Yikes another bike !!

[jinks]

Went with my buddy to see some farm machinery and look what I found in one of the "out buildings". Near as I can tell, its a Stark hard Tail frame with about a 1976 Honda 750 four engine. Gonna pick up a battery later and see if it runs. The tires are shit and lots of cracks in the plug wires and rusted chain. Broken throttle cable, stiff clutch cable,ECT. The owner took it on trade 10 years ago "for money owing" and never even road it. This should be interesting LOL. I paid $700 for a bike that might be complete garbage !! will keep ya guys updated.
It looks ALOT better in the pics than it actually is.

 

[jfeagins]

You mean - YIKES - no front brakes! lol.

Hope it works out for you and it runs nicely.

 

[Fire-medic]

Wipe the porn-shoot Vaseline film off the lens, so we can see what it really looks like. :rofl_200:

Interesting, a wide-glide/fatbob-style tank, a spindly front end that probably flexes more than the sliders provide front "suspension" (better see if that front end has slugs on it, if it does, I wouldn't ride it until you got some 'proper' single-piece downtubes, there's a reason they were outlawed in many states, they broke! Or a proper solution, see below), real 'biker-style' forward foot controls, so you can get a nice breeze up your bellbottoms, a nice cast wheel in front, shades of Lester mags, four into four pipes for lots of un-muffled noise and absolutely no scavenging so it probably makes less horsepower than a stock exhaust, a 1930's style 'hardtail,' so your kidneys can be sacrificed for style (not even a copy of an English 'plunger-style' rear suspension, like Amen made, the 'Savior'), kinda hard to tell, did they go "all the way," and install a 1" handlebar and H-D hand controls: levers, grips, and switch pods? The chrome and overall condition look pretty-good for the finishes, the engine cyl & cases don't look like a dozen generations of rodents have been peeing all-over them, and the seat is intact! That's usually one of the first things to go.

My advice is to get it going with absolutely the least amount of $$ layout, and then decide if you're gonna want to make it safe for the road. That would include, installing a front disc brake on that &*$%&$!! bike, because I don't see one!

The second thing I would do is to probably junk the front end (sell it, swap it, whatever) and install a 'Frisco-style lowered shorter front end w/less rake, to make it less of a death-wish adventure to ride, whenever you did. Would this take time, and $? Yes, but you at least would end up with a bike which wouldn't threaten to spit you off every time you came to a curve in the road. Points available if you can name this young lad on the bike:

It's cool, a real throwback to the chopper craze of the 1970's, where guys wanted a "Billy Bike," or a "Captain America" bike, this looks like someone wanted both but could only afford one, so he took the front of one and the tins of the other, and this is what happened. I wouldn't want to ride that any farther than from the pickup to the garage where it's gonna be made safe. You have a lotta work there, or you can ride the thing as-is. If you choose the latter, I have the perfect name:

Went with my buddy to see some farm machinery and look what I found in one of the "out buildings". Near as I can tell, its a Stark hard Tail frame with about a 1976 Honda 750 four engine. Gonna pick up a battery later and see if it runs. The tires are shit and lots of cracks in the plug wires and rusted chain. Broken throttle cable, stiff clutch cable,ECT. The owner took it on trade 10 years ago "for money owing" and never even road it. This should be interesting LOL. I paid $700 for a bike that might be complete garbage !! will keep ya guys updated.
It looks ALOT better in the pics than it actually is.

 

[jinks]

Fire medic- you nailed it !! You summed up the old chopper pretty good. All what you've said is true. But its a "time capsule". This is our beginnings.....we will never see this again. Yes, unsafe at any speed, yes uncomfortable & hard on the back. This ,like many others were put together by a baby boomer generation that had No access to Forums, computers, tig & mig welders or cnc machines. The parts were Home made and on a budget. These were "bike builders". They never had huge catalogues of parts.
Its dope simple to build bikes today,..just order the correct fitting part with one of your 5 credit cards and slap it on. Its part of motorcycle history, good & bad.

 

[wayne z]

I like it. Looks to be in excellent shape and someone has spent a Lot of money on it. There's a pretty big following of the old metric choppers and it's value is way more than $7oo.

 

[jinks]

I posted the bike on face book and I've got a BUYER !! He will take it sight-unseen. Its the original builder ! He tells me its a 1968 stark frame . He says its not the original engine either. the bike was originally heavy gold metallic and had a girder front end. He has been looking for his old bike for 30 years !! He traded it for a 1971 ford 1/2 ton that he needed for work, LOL
Wow, I'm happy for him. He's coming down with his truck and picking it up on Friday. That's the shortest time Ive ever owned a bike. $1500 bucks coming my way. I wished I could find some of my old bikes. That would be soo cool.

 

[jinks]

I like it. Looks to be in excellent shape and someone has spent a Lot of money on it. There's a pretty big following of the old metric choppers and it's value is way more than $7oo.

Maybe I sold it to cheap LOL I made a fast $800 bucks without having to spend a couple hundred getting it running "if it does". The fellow that bought , sounds like he's pretty well off. I'll bet he never rides it,..he just wanted his old bike back,..who wouldn't.

 

[Traumahawk]

LOL....this is a cool ending to this story. The original owner probably always wondered what happened to it.

 

[paulibiker]

Good story. Been looking for my 1st street bike for 20 years.

If you ever see a 1980 Yamaha SR500 with an aluminum swingarm and a dent in the top of the tank, let me know.........unk:

 

[jinks]

Good story. Been looking for my 1st street bike for 20 years.

If you ever see a 1980 Yamaha SR500 with an aluminum swingarm and a dent in the top of the tank, let me know.........unk:

No,..Haven't seen it LOL.
My first big street bike was a 1971 Yamaha 650 special with kick start. I really miss that old bike.

 

[Fire-medic]

Too bad you're so far away, I need a SOHC 750 to throw into a roller 750K-model Honda I have. That guy is probably gonna throw some other engine into it.

Ever hear what Jay Leno said about the Yamaha 650 twin? It was all he could afford at the time, and it was so-uninspiring, he almost gave-up on bikes altogether. I had one a good story behind how I came to get an XS-650 from the original owner.

 

[redbaron13]

Man it is a Honda, that thing is gonna run, you cannot killem.

 

[jinks]

He just picked up the bike, and was he happy. He brought along 2 buddies,......I think they are the ones that are going to paint and repair it. They sure looked it over good. I asked him to send me pics when the bike was done. will be interesting to see what he does to it.